Surnames and Family Research Forum Archive

Congratulations to you! I can still feel the excitement, in hearing your story, as I felt 23 years ago when I adopted my 10 1/2 month old son via a county adoption agency.

I personally fully understand your desire to provide him with all you can about his heritage. There are, indeed, companies who may provide information as to clues about one's ancestral heritage. They are, of course, fee based, and I would refer you to our DNA Resource Forum, for more information about them and their processes: http://www.afrigeneas.com/forum-dna/ There, you will also read many stories of the personal experiences of other Afrigeneas members.

My concern, however, is that more was not provided by the facilitator of the adoption. If you went through a private facilitator, they should have known and been able to provide you information about the heritage of the biological mother and her family, at least. Sparing their identites, I'd be surprised if they did not give you much. Possibly, they might also have been able to provide similar information about the biological father, as well, if given by the birth mother. A county, state, or private adoption agency would have done so, as well.

May I suggest that you do as you choose relative to having your son's deep ancestral heritage identified via genetics. Equally important, I feel, is that you continue to communicate with your case worker or facilitator of the adoption to glean whatever information they can provide. In the case with my son, there was very detailed information on his birth mother's side, including an inadvertent inclusion of her name.